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| The Makah Indian tribe cannot legally kill whales. |
By Rebecca Regnery
On Saturday, September 8, a Pacific gray whale was killed off the coast of Washington State. Pierced by both harpoons and bullets from a high-powered rifle, the whale suffered a prolonged and painful death over more than 10 hours.
The perpetrators of this crime were five members of the Makah Indian tribe, acting in violation of U.S. and tribal laws. Afterwards, the apparent ringleader, Wayne Johnson, told the press that the killing gave him "a little bit of a rush."
"The time just felt right"
Johnson, who was a tribal whaling commissioner at the time, is said to have lost patience with the federal government's process of evaluating whether to grant the Makah permission to hunt whales: "The time just felt right. I got a hair up my ass and just said, 'Let's go.'" So he gathered his cohorts, headed to the town dock in Neah Bay, launched two motorized boats, and joined the fishermen and other boaters.
There's no report that the group was concerned about the dangers their whaling posed for all those nearby. Once the whale was struck, however, witnesses quickly called for the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard took immediate action, cutting loose the dying whale and taking the offenders into custody. The group was released to the custody of the tribal council.
The tribe has issued a statement promising that the whalers would "stand trial in our court at a future date." The two miscreants who were whaling commissioners were expelled from the Makah whaling commission. Johnson remains publicly unrepentant: "I'm not ashamed. I'm feeling kind of proud."
He has been heard bragging about hitting the whale with five whaling harpoons and four seal harpoons, then shooting the whale. On October 4, the U.S. attorney's office indicted the five men on three misdemeanor counts each, including conspiracy and unlawful killing of a marine mammal, saying the charges are punishable by up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
Time to Stop the Approval Process
The HSUS and Humane Society International called upon the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service to perform a full investigation on this incident, and the indictment indicates that our efforts bore fruit. We also have requested that NOAA and the Makah tribal court prosecute the whalers to the full extent of U.S. and tribal laws. And while we view the indictment as promising, we are awaiting the outcome of the prosecution.
We are also asking NOAA to suspend consideration of the Makah's request for an MMPA waiver that would allow the tribe to kill gray whales. NOAA officials have suggested the illegal whale killing will "slow down" the process, but given that the outcome of the investigation and prosecution may very well give cause to end the process entirely, it would be most prudent to hold off on that process entirely until this situation is resolved.
The possibility that the government would allow the Makah to whale has already generated much concern, but the danger of giving in to the Makah's request became even more clear two days after the killing, when a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicated that the recovery of the Pacific gray whale population had miscalculated and that the species is still in trouble.
Failing to take this crime seriously may well set a dangerous precedent for other parties who grow impatient when government regulations delay or forbid the taking of wildlife. Furthermore, it also puts the U.S. government in a difficult position when calling on other countries to comply with international environmental treaties and laws.
Rebecca Regnery is the Program Manager for Oceans and Wildlife Protection, Humane Society International
